mikega's Blog at LumberJocks.com

Pencil Post bed #4: Pencil Post bed part 4 FINISHED

mikega — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 20:52:17 GMT

In my last blog I mentioned that I would be traveling back down to Charles Neil’s shop in New Market VA .to put the finish on my bed. When I arrived there I saw a police car sitting in front of the shop. Charles greeted me and told me that they had a break in that night. After some investigating they found a trail of some items from the shop leading right to the backdoor of the house next door. A drill was found in the basement and a phone charger was found in one of the bedrooms. However the 2 video cameras were no where to be found. The police took the information and the investigation is still on gone. I talked with Charles last week and he said that Sherri has purchased a new camera and some other items needed to get them back up with making his videos. Needless to say everyone was very upset but after the police left Charles was able to pull it together and we got started on my bed. The first thing we did was to spray on an equalized by Gemini products. Charles explained that this would help to even out the color of the cherry when we put the stain on. This stuff dried really quick so it was not long before we were spraying on the stain. The stained we used was called Honey-Pine also by Gemini. This gave the cherry a nice warm look and really brought out the curl in the grain. Next we sprayed on a vinyl sealer and left that dry for awhile. Next we rubbed on a dark glaze (mahogany I think) from Mohawk which gave the wood a nice aged cherry look. Next came a very heavy coat of a precatalzed lacquer. Then we left the bed to dry for the night. On Saturday we got started about 8:30. Charles explained that today would be easier because all we needed to do was to sand and level out the lacquer that we put on the day before and then spray it one more time with another coat of lacquer. Here is a quick way to sand and glaze the finials. This gave us plenty of time to sit around and talk woodworking while things were drying. I also took advantage of this time to get some pictures of the new shop layout. If you subscribe to Charles newsletter you know that they split the shop in half. This was mainly done to help keep down the heating cost. All the woodworking machines except the big drum sander and a planner were moved to the front of the shop. The main shop is now just a little larger then a 2 car garage. He explained that by setting his shop up this way guys who view his videos can see how they can setup their shop. I looked at the wall that holds some of his 20 routers and said “yea most guys have 20 routers in their shop” He just laughed and said “I hate changing router bits”. He then went on to explain that he is still a production shop making furniture for a living so he needs things that help him cut down on the production time like more then type of tool and tools on their own stands so he does not have to waste time moving tools in and out. By 3:00 everything was sanded and sprayed and left to dry for another night. I left for the day and went over to check out the VMI Hall Of Valor which is less then 5 minutes from the shop. If you get to New Market be sure to spend some time there. Sunday morning I was back at the shop by 8:30. We talked for awhile then carefully wrapped the bed in some moving blankets and loaded it in my truck for the trip home. By 4:00 that afternoon we had the bed set-up in my son’s spare bedroom so that it could cure for a few days before we moved it into his room. This was the first time it was completely put together and I was a bit worried that everything would fit, however everything fit like a glove and I gave a sigh of relief. On Friday night I went back to my son’s house for the final move. We moved the bed into his room and I installed the strips for the bed slates and put on the bed bolt covers. Now for the last big test ‘will the box spring and mattress fit?’ YES IT FITS!!
Project done! I would like to thank Charles for all his help in making this bed happen. I could not have done this without his support and the Pencil Post Bed DVD that he has out. If you would like to make your own bed I strongly suggest you get the DVD. Right now it is on sale on his web site www.antiquesbuiltdaily.com for around $50.00. It is a 2 DVD set (5 hrs running time) covering how to make and use the jigs and everything you need to know to make the bed. Thanks also to everyone who took the time to read my blogs. I hope you had as much fun reading them as I did making the bed.

Pencil Post bed #3: Pencil post bed part-3

mikega — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 16:01:29 GMT

This is the third part of my series on making a Pencil Post bed that I am doing from the DVD that I got from Charles Neil at: www.antiquesbuiltdaily.com. I am now in the the not so exciting part of this project which is the sanding, sanding and sanding. There really is not much to say about the sanding but I would like to share something that I learned from Charles on my first trip to his shop in New Market VA that has really helped to improve the sanding on my projects. He showed me how to use what he calls a “trace coat” to show sanding marks or glue spots that need to be sanded out before you put on the final finish.
A trace coat is a very very diluted dye that is wiped on lightly before you start the sanding. On the first picture you can see the sanding lines on the cherry side of the bed rail that were left by the drum sander. On the cherry side I used a dark dye which will also help to bring out the curl in the wood when I put on the final finish.
The next picture is the poplar side of the rails. I used a diluted Transtint Red dye for this side. Here you can see the glue that I thought I had gotten off before I put the dye on. After you put the dye on you sand it off with 120 grit then put the dye on again and sand it off again with 150 or 180 grit.
The bed rails are made up up 2 pieces of poplar with a 1/4 inch piece of cherry laminated to the face and top and bottoms of the rails. To hide the seam you need to put a 1/4 inch bead on the rails. I waited till after the rails were sanded so that the trace coat dye did not get in the crack and so that I did not flatten the bead when I was doing the sanding. After you put the bead on it looks like you have one solid rail that is 1-1/2 inches thick.
Another thing left to do is to turn some finials for the posts. I made up 2 samples for my son to pick the one he likes best (he likes the one on the right). Turning one of these was easy but making 4 that all look the same will not be as easy. I had planned on putting a canopy on the bed but when I was at my son’s placed to measure his box spring and mattress I discovered that he has a ceiling fan in his bed room so the canopy will not fit (I don’t think he really wanted one anyway).

If you have been following my blogs on this bed you will remember that I am building this in my basement and I mentioned in my 1st blog that I will probably wipe out a light or two till I am done with this project. While this week it finally happened. Nothing like having glass raining down on you.
The other thing that I have been doing is working on some samples for the final finish. Here you can see my test board.
However on Sunday I got a phone call from Charles asking when I am gone to bring the bed down to be finished. So you guessed it I will be loading the bed up and heading to VA next weekend. I asked Charles what type of a finish we will be using but he wouldn’t tell me. All he said is that it will be a surprise and that we will really pop the grain and that I will be spraying it. This should be interesting but at least I will have Charles there to bail me when I need it.
So stayed tuned in about 2 weeks I should be posting the final blog with the finished bed.

Pencil Post bed #2: Pencil post bed part-2

mikega — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 20:20:33 GMT

Well the bed rails are all cleaned up and ready to cut to final size. I remembered from the DVD that Charles said to leave an extra inch in the length and width so that it is easier to tuck in the bed sheets. This means that I want 61×81 inches from rail to rail.
Up to this point I always checked the DVD before I moved onto the next step but for some dumb reason I figured I could figure this one out. All I had to due was subtract the distance from the end of the mortise to the end of the post from my 61 inches and then add back 1-1/2 inches for my tenon’s. I cut a test sample out of MDF and put it in mortises and it measured 61 inches from mortise to mortise so I was good to go. I cut just the head and foot rails that night. For some reason at work the next day I had this feeling that I did some thing wrong. I checked my math again and everything looked good. As soon as I got home I put the DVD in again (I have played this thing so many time that the dog gets up and leaves the room when he sees me heading for the DVD player) I went to the section on the bed rails. My bed post and rails are the same size as the one’s in the DVD. As soon as Charles started to explain how to get the rails to the correct size I got a sick feeling in my stomach. He didn’t do it the way I did and his numbers were different then mine. Most of you have probably already figured out my mistake by now but it was not until I went back downstair to my shop that I discovered what I did. I went 61 inches from mortise to mortise but the rails extend about 3/8 inches beyond the mortise. PANIC TIME!! Now I will be to short. Well after I calmed down a bit I put the test rail pieces that I made in the side rails and measured across and found out that it was 60-3/8 inches from rail to rail so it will be tight but the mattress should fit. But what if it is to tight? Well after arguing with myself for about 2 hours I decided the only thing I could due is call the man that would know so at 9:30 that night I gave Charles a call. I got his voice mail. Next morning shortly after 7:00 he called me back and said ” What the #&%^ did you do!” So I explained my problem to him and after having some fun harassing me about not following his instructions on the DVD he laughed and said ” you’ll be alright and if the mattress is to tight just jump on the son of a b&^%*”. Well I felt better. After watching the DVD again I am now ready to cut the tenons. The way the DVD shows is to make a box that slides over the rails and then with a pattern bit in the router just follow the box all the way around to create the tenon. It worked great and after a little sanding and trimming up I was able to get them to fit.

Now it is time to drill the holes in the post for the bed bolts. In this picture you can see the spindle sanded that I just had to have but have only used as a prop for my drill press since I got it back in December. Marked the holes in the correct location and drilled a 1 inch hole followed by a 7/16 in hole for the bolt to go through.

After the post were drilled I clamped the post and the rails together to finish drilling the holes in the rails.

After that I drill a 1-3/8 inch hole in the rail to put the nut in. Did a test fit and everything is looking good so I guess I can start working on the head board.
I made a template out of MDF to test the fit and to use as a template for routing out the final headboard.
YEA I finally got to use my spindle sander.
Next I had to lay out the mortises on the post.

Here is where I am at right now.

Next thing will be to turn some finials for the top and start sanding. I have been testing some different finishes so that I my son can pick the one he likes best. Maybe I will soon be able to put this project to bed :)

Pencil Post bed #1: Making a Pencil Post bed part-1

mikega — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 19:19:40 GMT

Last year about this time my son (Sean) told me that he was looking for a Pencil Post bed. Well after finding out how much they cost his next question to me was “Do you think you could make me one Dad?” I told him I would have to see if I could find any information on how to make one. I went to the Internet and typed in “How to make a Pencil Post Bed” One of the hits I got was 3 Youtube video’s on just making the rails for the bed.
They were done by a guy I never heard of before CHARLES NEIL. After viewing the short clips I went to his web site and found out some more information about him. I found out that he had a complete DVD on making the bed and the jigs that you need to make the post. I ordered it right away. With the help of the DVD’s I felt that this was something that I could do. One of the other things that I found out from the web site was that Charles teaches classes in his shop in New Market VA. I have been making things out of wood for a long time now but I am not a fine woodworker (I am what Charles calls a glue it and screw it woodworker) so I decided it is time for me to jump things up a notch by taking some lessons on what it takes to make fine furniture. Since New Market is only 3 hours from me I decided to sign up for a class on making a cabriole leg. Taking this class would do 3 things 1. find out if I liked this guy and the way he teaches 2. learn how to make a cabriole leg and 3. pick his brain with any questions I might have about making the bed. After just a few minutes with Charles my first question was answered. Right away he made me feel at home and he understood my level of wood working experience and was able to explain and show me things so that I understood them (even if he does talk funny). I knew right away that I had found a new friend and mentor. Within a few hours he had me banging out cabriole legs. I never thought that I would be doing that. Now for the 3rd thing, asking questions about the Pencil Post bed. In the DVD the first thing that he talks about is the size of the table saw you need to cut out the post. He said that if you only have a bench top saw to not even think about doing this, just send the DVD back.
Then he said that if you have one of those 1 1/2 hp saw that say they max out at 3 hp (right) that you are going to have a difficult time but you might be able to do it. Well that is what I have, but I was still not ready to give up. So my first question to him was just how hard of a time was I going to have. He said that I might be able to do it but I would have myself a real good cussin section till I got them all done. At this point I was begining to think that maybe I bit off more then I could chew. But I have friends that have 5 hp saws so maybe they could help me out. A few minutes later Charles came back to me and said “if you can say here another day we can cut out everything you need to make your bed” My next question to him was to ask to borrow his phone to call my wife and let her know that I would not be home that night. We spent that night and the next day cutting out everything I needed to take home to start building Sean’s bed.

Here Charles is sanding the curly cherry for the bed rails.
So here I am back home ready to get started. As you can see from the next picture things are just a little tight in my basement shop. I will need to work between vent, lights and floor joist. Most of my equipment is on wheels so I can move things around to make it fit but I bet I will still break a few light before this project is done.
One of the things that Charles stresses on the DVD is to be sure to mark everything so that you have the proper position when you make your cuts for the mortises. I marked everything plus put the blue tape on the sides that I did not want to drill into just to be on the safe side.
The next thing I had to do is to lay out where to put the mortises. The layout is all explained in the DVD. I made a story board so that each one would be the same.

I do not have a mortising machine to make the mortises so I drilled them out on the drill press then clamped the post to my bench to hand chisel the rest.

Here you can see a closeup of the way Charles shows to chisel nice straight walls when you do this by hand.
The mortises are all cut so now it is time to move onto the rails.

The rails are made up of 2 pieces of poplar and a 1/4 inch piece of curly cherry on the outside. Doing it this way Charles says he has never had any rail twist or warp. I went to the sawmill and got the poplar that I rough milled and left sit in my shop for a few weeks before doing the glue up. Glueing up the rails is a 2 man job so I called Sean and told him that it was time for him to come work on his bed.

I broke out every clamp in the shop and even borrowed some from my Dad to get these things glued up. I glued up 2 rails at a time so my biggest fear was that when I took the clamps off they would both be stuck together. But following the advice on the DVD I able to glue them up without any problems.
Here are the rails ready to be cleaned up and have the tenons cut on them.
Well that all for now (hope you didn’t fall asleep yet). I will post more as I get more done.

My Keeping Chest with Charles Neil

mikega — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 03:43:06 GMT

In my last blog I mentioned that I was working on a Keeping Chest that I started back in October when I was in New Market for a class with Charles Neil. This is one of the 3 projects that we worked on that weekend (checkout the You-Tube video called 36 Hours with Charles to see the other projects I started). Well I got my chest done on Christmas day. The Saturday before Christmas I got an early Christmas present when I found my 7 disks DVD set called “The Adventures for Bob and Charles” in my mail box. Here is some more information about my chest and the DVD’s .
As I mentioned I start it back in Oct. with Charles. I never did any work with dovetails so Charles suggested that we make a Keeping Chest.

First we selected some real nice tiger maple stock that Charles had just gotten from his buddy Bob Kloes. Next we squared up and roughed sanded the stock and cut it to the correct sizes for the body of the chest. Then I got my first lesson on setting up and using a dovetail jig. After all dovetails were done we glued it up and left it dry. On the DVD they shows how to use painter tape to help with glue squeeze out. The week before I was there Charles and Bob started shooting their DVD’s so they had 14 chest in the working. They had extra molding cut out for the lid and base so I did not have to mill any for my chest. There was also extra molding cut for the feet so all I had to do was cut them out and put them together. The next day we unclamped it and sanded the dovetails flush. Then a thin dye was put on as a trace coat for sanding and to start to ‘POP’ the grain. At this point I took the chest home to finishes building it. I finished building the chest a few weeks later on a Sunday afternoon. That night I got a call from Charles inviting me down to watch them shoot some of the finishing DVD’s that he is working on. I told him that I just finished building my chest earlier that day and he said “Great bring it with you and we will put a finish on it.
So the next weekend I was on my way back down to New Market to learn more about finishing. Up to now all I knew about finishing was that you put on some stain and then throw on a coat of polyurethane and maybe a little wax and it’s done. Boy was I in for a surprise. Before I got there Charles told me to sand the trace coat that we put on back in Oct. off with 120 grit then put on another coat and sand that off with 150 grit so that we would be ready to start the final finishing when I get there.
The first thing we did when I got there was to spray on another coat of dye. This is the first time I ever handled a spray gun. Charles put on a nice thin coat.

Then it was my turn.

As you can see I put on a nice thick glob. I think I need a whole lot of practice with the spray gun. As soon as we were done spraying we grabbed a sponge and soaked the chest with the same dye.

At this point I am thinking that my chest looks like crap. It was not 2 minutes later that Charles looked at me and said ” I bet you think your box looks crap don’t you?” All I could say was “Yeah kinda”.

He just laughed and said ” Don’t worry it will get better”. After wiping it with a little alcohol things did start to lighten up and I felt a whole lot better. Charles felt we needed to add some amber tone to it so he sprayed on a coat of amber shellac. Next came 4 coats of lacquer and it was left to dry over night. All of this work was being done in between takes of the finishing DVD so it was a busy day.
The next morning he got me started by sanding (I think he called it leveling off) the 4 coats of lacquer that we put on the day before. He told me to wet sand it until I do not see any shiny spots but do not sand thru the lacquer. After sanding and sanding and sanding, Charles would come back and point out the spots I missed and I would sand and sand some more. Doing the flat surfaces was not to bad but doing the molding was a real pain. As you can see Charles had to come to my rescue with a little touch up.

After the sanding was all done I wiped it all down and cleaned it up.
Next his shop assistant Billy helped me attach the feet to the base.

After that his other assistant, Ed helped me attached base to the box. Then it was off to the spray room for one more coat of lacquer.

I hung around for a few hours till it was dry enough to load up and bring home to finish it up. If you ever want to get high just put a freshly coated lacquer chest in your truck and drive home 3 hours with it. Charles told me to let it sit for about 10 days so it cures and then start rubbing it out.
My Goal was to have it done by Christmas day for my wife. I put off working on it as long as I could because I was waiting for DVD’s to come so I could see how he installed the hardware. Two days before Christmas I got my disks and the first thing I did was watched the part about installing the hinges. He sure makes it look a lot easier then it is. Well by noon time on Christmas day my Keeping Chest was done!

When I meant Neil for the first time back in October he told me that I need to learn how to finish before I learn how to build a peice of furniture. I never really liked the finishing part of the project but I think it was mainly because I did not understand it. I now find that I spend most of my time on this site and others reading about finishing and I am starting to like it more. I plan on attending one of Charles finishing classes this coming May. Who knows may be some day I will like it as much as this guy.

If you ever want to build a chest like this I would recommend that you start by getting the Adventure of Bob and Charles DVD set. The first 3 disk cover every thing you need to know to build the Keeping Chest. The next 2 disk teach you how to make a Candle box. Then there is a disk just on finishing the boxes and another one with tips on it. All together it is 352 mins. of information and entertainment.
You can get the DVD’s at: http://www.antiquesbuiltdaily.com and if you would like to get some nice figured wood to build the chest or candle box you can it it at: http://www.bobkloes.com

Now I am off to start the next project that I started with Charles. A Pencil Post bed.

Two days in The Shop of Charles Neil

mikega — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 22:08:54 GMT

Well I thought I would try my hand at my first Blog. This past weekend I got to go down to New Market VA to spend some time with Charles Neil. Many of you know Charles from the Lumberjock site and through his YouTube and DVD videos. So I hope I thought I would tell you a little more about him. Hope this works.
Two weeks ago on Sunday after I just finished putting the last piece of trim on a Keeping Chest that I started with Charles back in October he called and invited me down to New Market to meet his buddy Bob Kloes and to watch them film some of the Finishing DVD’s that they are working on. I told Charles that I just finished the chest earlier that day and he said “great bring it with you and we will finishes it” (I will do another blog later on my Keeping Chest when I get the hardware on it and rub out the finish) Went to work the next day and put in for my last vacation day for 2007. Last Friday at 6:30am I headed south from York PA to New Market VA. Pulled into his parking lot around 10:30am and saw a sign on the door that said “FILMING – Enter quietly and slowly”. I slowly opened the door and found Charles and Bob sitting in front of a table that was filled with every kind of finishing product you can think of. There were finishing products sitting everywhere.

After a few introductions and getting caught up, Bob and Charles went back to work shooting the next scene. As many of you who have checked out his YouTube videos or may own one of his DVD’s know that they are shot right in his shop. If you have not seen his YouTube videos you can check them out at: http://www.antiquesbuiltdaily.com. Things are just a little tight. Here you can see shop assistant/cameraman Billy standing on the outfeed table of the tablesaw to shoot the next scene. Charles pointed out that they got new lights which has really improved the lighting quality of their videos.

The first scene I saw was about sanding. The one thing that I noticed is that there were no notes. They plan what they want to say before they start shooting and then just get up and start talking. Many times they start talking about one thing and end of on something else. This makes it hard for Sherri who does the editing to pull it all back together again. I own several of Charles DVD’s and one of the things I like most about them is that he not only tells you how to do something but he tells you why you are doing it and how it effects the next step of the process i.e.. like why you want to slightly round the edges of your pieces. This scene took about 20 minutes to shoot. Then Charles told Billy what he wanted to shoot next and while Bob and Charles talked about it Billy was busy cleaning up the last set and getting everything ready for the next set and Sherri was busy starting to edit the last take. Also between takes Charles got me started on finishing my Keeping Chest. The last time that Bob was there they started to shoot a DVD set on making a Keep Chest and Candle boxes. Most of the time they do all the work on putting these DVD’s together on their own, however they decided to sub the DVD production of this one out. Well things did not go well. Some tapes were lost and the editing was really poor so they decided to bring it back in shop and do it again. Many scenes had to be done over again so the next take was of Charles putting in a lock set on the Keeping Chest. After lunch they went back to shooting the Finishing DVD. This time they talked about rubbing out the finish.

If you watch the YouTube videos you know that not only does Charles like to teach but he likes to have a good time doing it. On the Finishing DVD you will see Charles polishing Bob’s bald head. I also got to see a short clip of the Box DVD where Bob does a dance. It will be worth getting just to see that. Also when he was shooting the lock set scene he dropped the router on the floor (it landed on a mat so there was no harm done) but they let that kind of stuff on the DVD’s just to show that this kind of thing happens to even the best of us. The Sugar Chest that they worked on in the rubbing out scene was for a customer and had to be finished that day because Bob was taking it home with him the next day to deliver it. After the filming was done everyone jumped on it to get it done. They even left me help.

The lady in the picture above is Sherri. She is the other person that you do not get to see. She is the Office Manager/shop assistant/cameraperson/ production editor. Filming these things is just a small part of making the DVD’s. Sherri spends many, many, long hours trying to make Charles look good. As we were finishing up the Sugar chest and Bob was packing up his car Charles said “OH (blip) I just remembered we need to have 22 trophy bases for NASA ready to ship out of here on Monday morning” Billy was told to call the sawmill to get 100 board feet of Walnut right away. Filming came to an abrupt halt. Tables were cleaned off and the camera was torn down. The lumber showed up around 7:00 that evening. Charles said he could not miss the shipping date plus he will be out of town at Woodcraft’s headquarters shooting some videos for them most of this week. Charles has been doing these bases for NASA for the last 15 years and they have made hundreds of them so they all knew that they would be working all weekend. We went out for supper around 8:00. Later I said goodbye to my new friend Bob who was headed back to Wisconsin at day break. I called it a day but Sherri returned to the office to try and finish the Box DVD’s till 3:30 am then slept on the sofa in the office so she could get up early to start working on the trophy bases. Saturday morning after some breakfast and checking out a local sawmill ( I got some nice cherry lumber) I went back to the shop. Production was in full swing. Billy was on the planer, Charles was on the tablesaw cutting out the parts and Sherri was busy sanding. Charles stopped to get me started on sanding down my Keeping Chest to get it ready for the last coat of lacquer. After I was done sanding we put on the last coat of lacquer then I just hung around trying to help where I could but mostly just watching these people do what they do best, build furniture. Around 4:00 my piece was dry enough to carefully put into my truck and head back to PA. I wish that I could have watched them film more of the Finishing DVD’s but I guess I will just have to wait till the DVD’s comes out. One last picture. I call this one a Rose between two Thorns :)

I hope that you have enjoyed my first Blog as much as I enjoyed my visit with Charles and Bob and that you will take the time to check out Charles Neil’s web site at: http://www.antiquesbuiltdaily.com where you can watch a video telling you everything that will be on the Finishing DVD. Charles said that this DVD has been 40 years in the making. It has turned into a bigger project then even he imagined but he said he wants too do it right and does not want to leave anything out. Also check out Bob Kloes website at: http://www.bobkloes.com. Bob sells some of the most beautiful figured lumber that you will ever see. I would also like to THANK all you other guys out there who take the time to make and put videos out there on the net for guys like me to learn from and ENJOY.